Labor and Delivery

Important: Visitor policy may vary between hospitals. If you have further questions, please contact the hospital you are scheduled to deliver at for further assistance.

Visitors will follow our screening protocols, including receiving a temperature check and completing a symptom questionnaire upon entering the hospital. 

Labor & Delivery/postpartum
In most cases, one visitor over the age of 16 is allowed. Must be the same visitor wearing the infant security band for the entire stay.

Parents with multiples/postpartum
Only the mother and father or partner can provide care.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
If the newborn is in the NICU, mother and father or partner are allowed. If the mother has multiples, only mother and father or partner can provide care and parents are able to leave and return to the hospital. Depending on the hospital’s guidelines, some parents may be allowed a support person(s) to help care for newborns in the NICU – must be the same visitor(s) wearing the infant security band for the entire stay.

Postpartum mother discharged, but newborn is not
The newborn remains in the postpartum department or NICU (depending on the newborn’s condition). Parents are able to leave and return to the hospital.

Antepartum patients
One visitor per day (different visitor can come on different days) is allowed.

Home births/postpartum readmits
For mothers who deliver at home but need to be admitted to the hospital for further care, the newborn can remain with the mother, as long as a support person is present to be responsible for the newborn.

Surrogacy
Depending on the delivery and hospital’s guidelines, the parents intending to raise the child can be present during the delivery, however, they cannot be present during a cesarean birth. Both parents may stay in the postpartum room as long as they do not leave the hospital. A support person will be allowed to remain with the surrogate mother throughout her stay.

Adoption
If the patient allows an infant security band to be provided for one of the adoptive parents and the newborn is intended to room with the adoptive parent(s), then the adoptive parent(s) will be allowed to care for the newborn but should not leave the hospital. The birth mother is allowed a support person during her stay. If the patient does not allow an infant security band to be provided to anyone and the baby is staying in the birth mother’s room, then the adoptive parents cannot come in as approved visitors.

Demise
After delivery, a second support person may visit the baby and stay for a short period of time.

Anyone who enters our hospitals must wear an approved face mask that covers their nose and mouth. All labor & delivery patients will be tested for COVID-19 prior to their delivery. If the test detects COVID-19, then patients must wear a mask during labor & delivery and throughout the entire stay. 

Confirmed COVID-19 or symptomatic spouses or partners will not be allowed to enter our hospitals.

If you are breastfeeding and test positive for COVID-19, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend taking extra precautions, including practicing regular hand and breast hygiene and wearing a face mask to avoid spreading the virus to your baby.

As with any viral illness, women are encouraged to continue to breastfeed even when they are ill due to the many benefits breast milk provides, including nutritional value and antibodies to help your baby fight off viruses and bacteria. To date, the COVID-19 virus has not been found in the breast milk of women who have tested positive for COVID-19. Learn more about the extra precautions mothers with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 can take while breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding infection control measures:

• Wear a face mask and follow thorough hand and breast hygiene for breastfeeding directly, pumping, and expressing breast milk.
• Follow proper pump and bottle cleaning/sanitizing guidelines after each use.
• Use a dedicated breast pump and carefully transfer the milk to a clean bottle.
• Wash your hands thoroughly before touching any pump or bottle parts and before expressing breast milk.
• If possible, have a healthy caregiver feed the expressed breast milk to your baby.

Mother and her well newborn can room together, but it is recommended to take preventive infection control measures when caring for your newborn. Rest assured our dedicated medical teams regularly care for patients with infectious diseases and will help parents take extra precautions to safely care for their newborn.

A mother who is acutely ill with COVID-19 may not be able to care for her newborn in a safe way. In this situation, it may be appropriate to temporarily separate the mother and newborn or have the newborn cared for by a non-infected caregiver in the mother’s room.

Preventive infection control measures:

• During the birth hospitalization, the mother should maintain a reasonable distance from her newborn when possible. When a mother is caring for her newborn, she should wear a face mask and practice regular hand and breast hygiene.
• Depending on the mother’s condition, use of an isolette may facilitate distancing and provide the infant an added measure of protection from respiratory droplets.
• If non-infected spouse, partner, or family members are present during and after the birth, they should practice regular hand hygiene and wear a face mask when caring for the newborn.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the Society for Maternal Fetal (SFMFM) and the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) encourages vaccination for women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, attempting to get pregnant or undergoing treatment for infertility. Based on recommendations and available evidence from leading women’s health organizations, the vaccines are safe for these populations.

Below is additional information about the importance of vaccination against COVID-19 and the safety of the vaccines in those who are pregnant, breastfeeding or looking to become pregnant.

• COVID-19 patients who are pregnant are three times more likely to end up in the intensive care unit (ICU), be put on a ventilator and are at increased risk of death, stillbirth or preterm birth.
• A study published recently in The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows the vaccines are not only safe and effective for pregnant and breastfeeding women, they may also offer some protection for their babies. In fact, antibodies were also found in umbilical cord blood and breast milk.
• Protective antibodies have also been shown to cross the placenta and confer protection to the baby after delivery.
• In addition, according to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, there is no evidence that the vaccines can lead to loss of males or female fertility or fertility treatment outcomes.
• Existing data suggests COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy does not increase the risk of miscarriage.
• According to the CDC, as of July 26, 2021, 139,562 pregnant women have been vaccinated and 5,104 are participating in a registry with frequent follow-up with no increase in adverse maternal events or pregnancy outcomes noted.